Come next academic session and OBC students applying to Panjab University might not be beneficiaries of the Supreme Court announced 27 per cent reservation as the university will not be implementing the OBC quota anymore. In a letter to the university, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has withdrawn the earlier given permission regarding implementation of the quota in PU stating that it is ‘not a central university’.

Confirming the report, PU Vice-Chancellor Professor R C Sobti said, “We had implemented the quota in accordance with the letter received from MHRD but now we have received another letter that wants us to do away with the same. So, we shall be following what the ministry asks us to do.”

Any particular institute wanting to implement the OBC quota has to write to the ministry seeking permission and grant for the same.

Sources, however, maintain that it was during a meeting recently held at New Delhi where it was concluded that PU had gone ahead and implemented the quota without being a central university. Also, it needs to be mentioned here that when PU had implemented the quota, affiliated colleges had resisted the decision and after seeking legal opinion on the issue stated that PU was not a central university and thus could not implement the quota.

There were also rumours doing the rounds that PU had been asked to return the money taken as grant to implement the quota but nothing seems to have come out of it.

Meanwhile, the Rs 5 crore aid that was received by PU to implement the 7 per cent quota this year has already been spent, according to sources. Considering the fact that no new faculty has been appointed this year, sources also claim that the money was spent on various projects other than development and infrastructure.